Uconn

Connecticut running back Lyle McCombs (43) stands on the field during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Rutgers won 19-3. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

We have officially entered the broken record phase of UConn's football season. The same problems continue to plague the Huskies just about every time they hit the field.

This week, the record gets a different groove. The question is whether it adds smoother play or things continue on the same track.

UConn's most experienced and most versatile offensive lineman, Adam Masters, was lost for the season two weeks ago at Syracuse. The senior saw his career end with an ankle injury that required surgery.

Sophomore Gus Cruz steps into the guard spot Masters occupied for the bulk of the season, leaving the already maligned offensive line with more inexperience.

It also means the Huskies will have to carry an extra offensive lineman starting with Saturday night's game at South Florida. Masters was able to switch between guard and tackle. UConn no longer has that flexibility, so redshirt freshman Dalton Gifford will continue as a backup tackle and true freshman Tyler Samra will be a backup guard. Gifford hasn't played yet and Samra saw minimal action early in the year.

"We just wouldn't have the flexibility we have with a guy like Adam," UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "We just don't have that guy who can go in and play a guard or play a tackle. We'll just have to carry one more player.

"Gus has been working hard and fitting in there, communicating, getting the line calls, identifying the defense so that we can block it."

That didn't happen much with Masters playing, and he arguably had been UConn's best offensive lineman all season.

This path has been trod before, but for a reason. UConn's previously feared running game isn't even a shadow of what it once was. For something to cast a shadow, it must first exist. Now the Huskies have to find a running game to have any hope of salvaging the season and they must do it with another new piece.

Cruz has spent time with the first team in practice and he has seen enough game action to know what he is doing. Losing a player such as Masters surely hurts, but maybe the Huskies can get something going up front with some new blood. Goodness knows something good has to happen up front soon.

"They are all doing their jobs," said quarterback Chandler Whitmer, who has taken some brutal hits. "I know Gus will step in and do a good job. I hope they can bring it together. They've been working hard at it, and I think it will show on the field. It's just a matter of those guys getting on the same page. I think they'll do that."

Credit Whitmer for optimism.

This week will tell us plenty about the direction of the offensive line and the run game. UConn owns the worst rushing offense in the Big East at 86.9 yards per game. It is the only team in the league averaging fewer than 132 yards per game.

South Florida, which has lost six straight for the first time in the program's 16-year history, owns the worst rushing defense in the league with an average of 170.1 yards allowed. Of course, Temple was the worst rush defense in the league when UConn played the Owls, and the Huskies managed 88 rushing yards against them.

It will be a massive indictment of the Huskies if they can't move the ball on the ground against the Bulls.

"We have so many runs in our offense," Pasqualoni said. "We have power schemes, we have counter schemes, gap schemes, trap schemes. We're just trying to work on the efficiency of getting those things blocked and executed. That's really where our focus is."

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